Will appoint grievance officer in 8 weeks, Twitter tells court
Twitter today informed the Delhi High Court that it needs eight weeks' time to appoint a grievance officer in India, in compliance with the Indian government's new Information Technology rules. The social media company's response came after the court slammed it for taking a rather long time to comply with the guidelines, over which it has been involved in a stand-off with the government.
Twitter said it is setting up a liaison office
Twitter said it has posted job openings and is currently accepting applications for a full-time grievance officer role. The company added it is in the process of setting up a liaison office in India, which is another requirement of the fresh IT rules. It appointed an India-based interim chief compliance officer two days ago, the firm further told the court.
Twitter to furnish first compliance report by July 11
"The liaison office in India will be the permanent physical contact address for all communication under the new IT Rules (sic)," Twitter said, adding that it will make its first compliance report public by July 11.
'Cannot take as long as you want,' HC told Twitter
Twitter gave this timeline two days after the Delhi High Court slammed the company, saying it cannot take "as long as it wants" to comply with Indian laws. "How long does your process take? If Twitter thinks it can take as long it wants in our country, I will not allow that," Justice Rekha Palli had warned it on Tuesday.
Court said it wasn't informed about previous officer's status
The court also reprimanded the company for "misleading" it by not informing that the grievance officer appointed earlier was interim in nature and had since resigned. "If he went away on June 21, the least Twitter could do was to appoint another officer in these 15 days," the court noted. Dharmendra Chatur, the interim officer, quit last month within one month of his joining.
Twitter and Indian government's months-long feud
Twitter and the Indian government have been involved in a months-long tussle over the compliance of the new IT rules. The rules, that were notified this February, require social media giants to appoint India-based grievance and compliance officers. The deadline to abide by those rules expired in May, after which Twitter lost its legal shield in India and is currently facing several police cases.
Twitter hints at challenging rules, new IT Minister issues warning
Twitter, however, also indicated it may challenge the IT rules in court. "While Twitter is striving to comply with the 2021 rules, Twitter reserves its right to challenge the legality, validity, and vires of the rules," the company said, according to Hindustan Times. Meanwhile, India's new IT Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said today Twitter must follow rules as "the law of the land is supreme."
